Absolute Carnage
by LZW
Summary: What if the incident those years ago left a permanent emotional scar on Tooru? This is a story of what if Tooru became twisted and vengeful, if he decided that he was willing to give and do anything to avenge them and allowed his soul to descended into darkness, changing his Blaze forever... Dark Tooru. OP Tooru. Completed. Eventual Season Two. Cover Art By: Schnellington
1. Prologue

Years after the incident, on a certain winter night, Tooru stood at the place where it occurred, the words he were told that fateful day still haunting his mind.

"They were weak, so… They just died."

'If only I wasn't so weak! If only I had more power!'

The area suddenly got foggy as a voice spoke to him through the mist.

"Do you want power?"

"Who's there?!"

"Does it matter?"

"No, I guess not…"

"Then answer the question."

"Yes, I want power!"

"Then go to this location by tomorrow, and your wish will be fulfilled."

A map of the city was thrown at him, it was had an 'X' marked on one of the buildings.

* * *

Tooru walked into the building and saw some shadowy figures, he assumed one of them to be the voice he heard yesterday.

"I'm here, now honor your end of the deal!"

The figures stepped out of the shadows, Tooru saw people in lab coats and a little girl dressed in black.

"So you came…"

"Yes and I want the power you promised me!"

"Of course."

The girl snapped her fingers and two men grabbed Tooru, forcing him still. She walked towards Tooru with a strange syringe and injected the liquid into him. The Mark of Astar appeared on his chest and glowed, emitting heat throughout his entire body. It felt like he had been engulfed in the flames of hell, Tooru fought the fire, tried to take control of it. He put his fists to his chest and felt the Mark, discovering that it was sort of like a gateway.

He reached within the Mark and felt something odd, something metallic. He tugged at it, trying to remove it in hopes that it would end the heat wave. The pain was overwhelming and his hand burned as he attempted to extract the object.

"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

"**Blaze!"**

Tooru took a few moments to calm down before examining his Blaze, it was Ebony Black with lines around it that glowed Bloodshot Red.

"I suppose I should call this… Irregular."

* * *

A/N: Think Daedric Armor from Skyrim for his Blaze design. This is a story that will be uploaded on weekends each week after the Anime ends. Each chapter will cover three episodes of the Anime with reference from the Manga and Light Novels, so this will be fully uploaded in five weeks. This will be written as the series is airing so there are bound to be some discrepancies here and there due to new information. I will try and edit them out before posting as I learn more through watching but bare with me. This will be shorter than the other chapters as it is only a prologue, the others will be much longer.

This Prologue may change if something is revealed at some point in the Anime so check back before the next chapter. A huge plot twist might require me to change a bunch of things so the release might be delayed about a day to a week if to happens. Be sure to vote on the poll on my profile for what story I release next and feel free to leave any suggestions or requests for me. Also please review, it encourages me!


	2. Chapter 1: Novgladius

A/N: Tooru is not exactly badass and reminds me of Touma, I mean really, what is with that horribly small shield that has a hole in it. Please imagine this him to be something like Tatsuya Shiba (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) in this story, if you don't know him then you he will lose some of his badassery unless you have an excellent imagination. This Tooru is cold and calculative so he has actually taken some time to train himself for his eventual battles so I strongly advise you to at least see a badass scene of Tatsuya's before continuing as he will pretty much be as powerful a weak Tatsuya. Remember, this is an OP character fic so no complaining he is too OP. I will be using the names of things in the Baka-Tsuki translations.

* * *

Tooru entered the Academy, alone. Moments after he took his seat in the hall the Academy President went to the podium and started giving the welcoming speech. He recognized her, she was the girl who gave him his Blaze, the one who invited him to this Academy.

"Take note of the person beside you, that person will be your partner."

'This girl next to me is my partner huh?'

"Um… My name is Nagakura Imari, what's yours?"

Tooru stayed silent, thinking only of his revenge, he had to train to be stronger to kill _him_. If he had to train with this girl as his partner then so be it.

"And now… you are to battle your partner. Only winners will be permitted entrance, losers will be expelled."

The hall erupted in complaints, the girl beside Tooru stood up and said something, but he didn't bother to listen.

Tooru stood up and asked, "Can we switch partners?"

'She looks much too weak to be a match for me.'

"Understand this: The person beside you is your first enemy."

"Its okay... I appreciate the sentiment… but don't treat me like a foo-"

Tooru punched Imari acrossed the hall, knocking over several students in the way.

"Don't misunderstand, I wanted to switch partners so I didn't have to fight you, I merely wanted a better opponent for my first battle! I don't think I'll even need my Blaze for a fight of this caliber!"

"You… Don't underestimate me!"

Imari wiped the blood from her mouth and ran towards Tooru.

"**Blaze!"**

With the first Blaze drawn, all the students starting fighting for their right to be in the Academy.

'My my, what an enthusiastic batch we have this year.' Sakuya thought to herself.

Imari leaped towards Tooru and attempted to attack him.

"Oh, thats a pretty interesting Blaze you got there, but it pales in comparison to mine. Not that you'll ever see it that is!"

Tooru expertly dodged the slice and while Imari was blinded by the smoke cloud that her attack created, went over to her and whispered into her ear.

"Its over, Imari…"

Tooru pulled back his fist and channeled his soul into it. The glow of your Blaze was decided by your soul, Tooru's soul was filled with darkness and hatred with only thoughts of vengeance. No one would be allowed to get in his way while he became stronger to get revenge. A black flame engulfed Tooru's fist as he punched Imari. The force of the punch sent Imari flying the the other end of the hall and she collided with the wall, making an impression and coughing blood as she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Tooru watched as all the people around him fought one another, using their Blazes to try and secure a spot in the Academy. Ruthlessly, the students struck down people they had wanted to become friends with for the sake of achieving their goals. A few more minutes passed before Sakuya finally spoke up.

"Time's up. Victors please head towards the class for your first lessons. I leave you with these final words: May you someday reach Absolute Duo."

Tooru walked away from the scene silently as behind him, medics flocked over to Imari's still form. On his way to class, Tooru thought about the fight he just experienced. He clenched his fists.

'It was a good practice battle, but I need something stronger if I'm going to have my revenge on _him_. If only I had more power back then, I could have stopped it...'

The memory of that event came back to haunt him. Tooru heard a voice, breaking him from his thoughts as he was walking to class.

"I haven't seen you in two years, Tooru. I never would have thought we would have met again here of all places."

"Torasaki..."

"You made it through the test I see, well then that makes us both official Tsukumo Sakuya guinea pigs."

'I don't care what I have to go through, as long as I can have my vengeance, I will be satisfied.'

"We should hurry to class."

"What's your hurry?"

* * *

The entire class went silent as Tooru walked in, his fight seemed to have spread some rather dark rumors about him. He sat quietly in an empty space at the back of the class next to the window. A few moments later, a silver haired girl entered the class and went to him. They exchanged nods and she sat down. Tooru felt the stares from her but couldn't care less.

Just as Tooru was about to zone out, an energetic voice was heard from the window.

"Hello, hello!"

Tooru turned his head to see a purple haired lady dressed in a maid outfit with bunny ears leap through the air and onto the table before doing a rabbit like dance.

"Nice to meet you! I'm your homeroom teacher, Tsukimi Rito! Feel free to call me Usa-Sensei though! I'm new here but don't look down on me though, I was top of my class last year!"

"She was a student?!" most of the class exclaimed.

At this point Tooru had zoned out and started to assess the students around him. A couple of students caught his eye but most others seemed weak. There seemed to be introductions going on.

"Okay now, who's next?"

As Tooru stood up, the once buzzing atmosphere of the class quietened down again.

"Kokonoe Tooru…"

Tooru sat back down in his seat and looked to the front.

"Kokonoe? Oh, so you're that irregular! The one that actually sent a student to the hospital! You're the talk of the staff room!"

"Is that so?"

"Okay and next up is…"

As the teacher continued her explanation, Tooru had gotten bored and started playing with his pen, twirling it around his fingers.

"...the person next to you will be your partner!"

'Another temporary partner up, they'll probably make us fight each other again. If not now then it will be when we've bonded or something.'

Tooru briefly took note of what the teacher explained and continued to ignore the rest of the class.

* * *

After class, Tooru headed straight for his room, not caring at all about the minor distractions. He went into the room and made some dark coffee to drink after his shower. He sat at the table with his coffee and the school guide book. He spent some time memorizing the rules and figuring out possible exploits before he heard a knock at the door. He went to open it with book still in hand, focused on his book, Tooru didn't even acknowledge who had come in, only going back to sit at the table and drink some coffee.

"Tooru, I'll go and shower now, I have something important to ask you later." a voice he recognized as Julie's said.

Tooru heard the sound of running water as his roommate entered the shower. Upon completion of his analysis, Tooru sat against the wall and thought about his situation.

'So there'll be an examination at the end of each term where your abilities will be assessed. Those who fail to advance a level each year will be expelled, its just like Torasaki said, we're just like guinea pigs. Those who are cannot produce results will be ousted, whereas those who perform will be rewarded. In order to prepare us for this, most of our curriculum is made up of combat training. I wonder who's the strongest in this academy...'

"Tooru…"

Tooru was interrupted from his thoughts by Julie calling him, he looked up to see that she was dressed in a loosely fitting shirt he assumed she wore to sleep.

"Tooru, what was that move you did earlier? That punch…"

"I see no reason to tell you. We may be fighting each other once the official pairings are out."

"Oh…"

"I'll be going to sleep now, so you should too, tomorrow we'll be formally starting our lessons."

Tooru took his cup, downed it in one fell swoop and got into bed.

'If I'm to beat _him_, I'll need to Exceed the Exceeds!'

* * *

The next day, as Tooru entered the cafeteria, he was greeted with whispers and gossip.

"Hey isn't that...?"

"I bet he's done something awful to Julie-chan while she couldn't do anything to resist him."

"Keep your head down or he'll probably do something to you like that other girl!"

Tooru found a seat after piling his plate and sat alone.

The meal was uneventful and Tooru headed off to class. The class was boring, it was mainly a question and answer session for things he had already read last night. The training session began soon after, the first of many. The days passed somewhat uneventfully, on one of the training sessions, one of the students fell off a cliff and fractured her arm. Needing immediate medical attention, she had her Luciful removed and was sent back to the mainland.

'Tomorrow is the day you choose your Duo, if you don't register in time you will be paired with whoever's left at random huh? I wonder what will happen if I'm the odd one out without a partner…"

The day ended without much incident, Tooru had hidden himself at the very top of the clocktower and saw Julie on the balcony below him, she was soon approached by another girl who supposedly lost her partner in an accident and wanted Julie to team up with her. They had left at twenty minutes to the deadline after finishing their pact to go register. Tooru decided it would be fitting to make up his own pact and tried it.

He jumped off the top of the clocktower and looked to the horizon. He drew his Blazes and pointed one towards the sunset, the blooded glow of his weapon oozing like an aura

"Alone, I fight for the strength to avenge them,

I will sacrifice anything to get my revenge.

Need I fight Angels, Devils or Satan himself,

For my vengeance, I will not rest. "

Tooru headed back to his now vacant dorm, Julie had moved to be with the other girl and now Tooru had the room for himself.

* * *

The next day came and without a partner, Tooru sat alone.

"Good Morning! I so glad everyone worked out their Duos! Well most people at least. Anyway, now you'll be sitting in Duos too, sort of a fresh start right? Oooh, what's this? Looks like some of you are keeping your seats!"

Tsukumi looked around and saw that Tooru and Julie were now separated.

"What's this? Silver Haired-chan and Irregular-kun have split up! Kokonoe-kun, did you do something mean to her?"

Without getting a reply for a long time, she moved on.

"Anyway, now that your official Duos have been decided, we'll be starting our first mock Blaze battle, Novgladius very soon! Now you might be wondering how it works. Basically, you'll be fighting against... "

Tooru tensed as he felt a sudden spike of killer intent coming from the teacher.

"Everyone else!"

The killer intent receded and Tooru relaxed slightly.

'What the hell was that just now? Wait… I guess it makes sense, she said she was the top of her class last year. She must have been good enough for an exception to be made, I guess it won't be a complete massacre after all…'

Tooru smirked as he thought he had finally found a real opponent.

"The fight will take place next Saturday, it's right before Golden Week so getting sent to the hospital is no biggie! The event will last from five to seven o'clock, giving you two hours to fight! The arena will be the entire school, make sure to use your brains and your brawn to get through this!"

Most of the lessons in the following days were physical exercises with Blaze spars. Tooru refused to participate in any of them but received no punishment, only a warning that if he did badly in the Novgladius, he would be expelled. He was not worried in the slightest about that, confident in himself. Tooru wanted the prize, it was a chance to Level Up early, an opportunity he could not pass up.

* * *

On the evening before the Novgladius, Tooru caught sight of Hotaka running on the track. He was at the top of the clock tower, it had become his favorite spot in the Academy because of how isolated it was and its great use as a vantage point. She looked like she had been at it for hours, she suddenly collapsed on the track, only to getting up ten minutes later and continuing to run. Tooru headed back to the dorm soon after, set his alarm for half an hour before five and went to sleep.

Tooru dreamt of the incident years ago that night, his sleep disturbed. It was just after four and Tooru decided to head out early. He headed to the clock tower and waited at the top, meditating to calm himself down from the shock of reliving the memory of the tragedy. In an hours time, the announcement was made and the clock hand moved, a minute before five. Tooru stood up and put his hand to his chest.

"**Blaze!"**

The obsidian coloured flames consumed his lower arms as his Blazes materialized. The familiar Ebony and Bloodshot Red of the two weapons still pulsed like the day he first called upon it. He looked down at his prey from above with his weapons by his side. His Blaze was an Irregular, no one had ever manifested such a weapon before. At each of his sides, one in each hand, he held unique weapons.

They were claws, though not just any claws, they were claws that had gun barrels between the knuckles. It was more of a gauntlet that just claws, but when put together, the gauntlet's front armor would burst into flames and merge into a shield.. It was an Irregular, he had already heard of the rumors of a Rifle Blaze manifestation in the European countries but he doubted a Shield or Armor Blaze had manifested before. The Shield was the one thing Sakuya hadn't noticed yet, and he planned to keep it that way for as long as possible. Tooru thought of all the days of his training with firearms. melee weapons and close quarters combat in preparation for the day he would strike at Otoha's murderer. Now that he had this Blaze, he felt closer than ever to his goal.

'Now, all I'll need to do is defeat all Thirty-Six students and the teacher and I'll get my Sublimation Ceremony early! I'll be so much closer to my revenger, a single level already doubles my power!'

Tooru stood at the very top of the clock tower, looking down on all the people, focusing and remembering their locations and analyzing possible routes they would take. The clock hand moved and it was five, the games began.

Tooru fired on the students he saw directly in front of him, taking them all down with a barrage of bullets. He then moved on to decimate the rest of the players visible from the top, his Blaze empowering the bullets. After noticing out of the corner of his eye that one student had survived and started to run away, Tooru ran to that side of the tower and jumped off, aiming his pistol in mid air and firing it at the fleeing foe. The shot rang through and penetrated her neck, permanently disabling her.

As Tooru fell, he dug his claws into the side of the tower to slow his ascent and jumped off before he hit the ground, landing on one of the students he had defeated earlier, fracturing her backbone with an earspliting crack.

'I've eliminated Twenty of them so far, the rest should be too afraid to face me now so I should probably go after that teacher.'

Tooru ran towards the large school building where he saw most of the remaining students run off to.

'If my guess is right, that teacher's been put here to remove the weaklings, which means she'll head towards the students and pick them off pair by pair. There should only be around five pairs left if they are actually fighting each other and that teacher is doing what I think she's doing.'

As Tooru entered the building, he looked around and saw a familiar looking knife peaking out from a corner on the second floor.

'So… Tachibana is here, I wonder where Hotaka is hiding...'

"Why did you do that to all those people!?"

Tooru didn't have much time to think on it as Tachibana suddenly shot out from her corner and threw her chain knife at Tooru. Though he was caught off guard by the sudden attack, Tooru had managed to sidestep it, he brought his Blaze up as the knife continued on its path. The claw was brought down and it severed the chain. A scream was heard as the consequence of having a Blaze destroyed was inflicted onto her.

As the scream faded and Tachibana fainted. As Tooru stepped up the stairs to inspect the scene, he heard a scream as a large lance pierced through the painting at the top and charged towards Tooru.

'Hotaka?!'

Tooru immediately brought his forearms together and the gauntlets were enveloped in onyx flames, when they diffused, what was left behind was a shield. It was a standard heater shield, only black with a glowing red outline.

The shield took the brunt of the impact and only pushed Tooru back a step. With the initial force gone, Tooru maneuvered his shield at an angle and deflected the lance off the stairs, the lance crashed through the railing and embedded itself into the ground, its wielder knocked out on the ground due to the fall.

Tooru looked up and saw that a hidden hole had been made behind the painting where Hotaka had hid.

'Tachibana must have found it while looking around one day and tried to use it to her advantage against a strong opponent. It would've worked if I didn't have my shield, I need to be more alert.'

Tooru detached his Blazes and continued exploring, he heard screams down one of the hallways and went to investigate. He found a trail of fainted students, six pairs in total. At the end of the hallway stood Tsukimi, with her Blaze drawn. It was a Tebutje, a weapon that was created before the sixteenth century and is still being used even today.

"Ooo… Kokonoe, you've finally come! Look at all these students I just took out, they weren't fun at all! They didn't stand a chance against a Level Three like me though!"

Tooru looked around and saw Julie, Torasaki and their partners all lying on the ground.

"I've really wanted to play with you Kokonoe, I've never fought someone as unique as you before!"

The teacher's voice then changed.

"It'll be an exciting experience! I'll even give you a heads up, here's what'll happen if your Blaze is destroyed!"

Tsukimi picked up Julie's twin Blazes and threw them into the air, slicing them into pieces destroying the manifestation. Julie spazed out as a massive amount of pain was inflicted onto her body, passing out from the agony.

"Lets see how you fare against my eight times power multiplier, Irregular!"

Tsukimi charged towards Tooru, her Blaze striking to kill. Tooru had anticipated this from the teacher and dodged to the left, tripping her on the way. Tsukimi rolled and got back up again. She looked at Tooru and licked her lips.

"Ooo, you ain't as slow as I thought you were, you even had time to trip me while dodging. Interesting, you may be fast enough, but are you strong enough!?"

Tsukimi rushed Tooru and slashed the Tebutje at his gauntlets, alternating from left to right, feigning and kicking, trying to get a hit on Tooru. The resounding 'Clang' s could be heard throughout the building as Tooru's gauntlets struggled to survive the onslaught of attacks as they cracked more and more from the barrage.

'I can't lose here! Not after all the effort I put in to get this far! This teacher won't get in the way of my revenge! I swore to avenge Otoha and the rest of them no matter the cost, I've trained all these grueling years in preparation for the day I fight _him_. If levels can make such a power difference then all the more I need to win this, so I can get stronger!'

"What's the matter Kokonoe? Aren't you gonna fight back? What happened to avenging Otoha?"

"You… How did you know about that?!"

"Sakuya told me all about you and your Blaze! Well not that it'll matter when you'll be dead soon!"

'It can't end like this, not after all I've gone through, I won't accept this!'

Tooru's wanted to win, he had to win. His emotions were channeled into his Blaze, feeding it, reinforcing it, making it stronger! Tsukimi was blown back suddenly by a fiery explosion, quickly recovering, she looked up to face her opponent, only to pale at the sight. Tooru's Blaze had changed, the cracks had disappeared and the gauntlets were now bigger. What looked like plain plated armor before, now looked like the gauntlets of devils, the demonic blood red pulses of the dark gauntlets veins shrouding the dim hallway in crimson glow. The once simple claws were now thinner, slicker, sharper and coated in a layer of dark flames. She gripped her weapon tightly as she watched Tooru start strolling slowly towards her.

"What's the matter Sensei? Where's all the determination you had earlier? Weren't you going to kill me? Well, I guess you just aren't strong enough…"

"DON'T MESS WITH ME!"

She steeled herself before charging at him in an attempt to kill him before he could have a chance to use his new Blaze. Just as her hit was about to connect, it was stopped by Tooru's shield, but the shield had changed, no longer was it a simple heater shield, it's top was now curved inwards with spikes pointed upwards. The red veins had also moved to be more prominent around the shield's middle, glowing brighter than before.

"A shield? Sakuya never told me anything about that?!"

Tsukimi pressed onto the shield in an attempt to tire out Tooru.

"Well there are a few surprises in this shield as well…"

She didn't have time to think on it a slit on Tooru's shield opened up to reveal a cylinder similar to the ones previously on his claws. Tooru fired and the Blaze imbued round left the weapon, and embedded itself into her right shoulder. She jumped back to avoid a possible second shot and clutched her shoulder in pain.

The shot had incapacitated her arm, with her dominant hand rendered useless Tsukimi had no choice but to flee. Tooru, however, wasn't that merciful, as the teacher started to escape, Tooru gave chase. He reverted his Blaze to it's gun-claw form and activated his new weapon. Like his gauntlets and shield, his firearms had also changed. What previously fired simple pistol rounds, was now capable of firing up to a Hundred Caliber round through an adjustable barrel.

Tooru aimed the barrel at the fleeing Tsukimi's leg and set it to Thirty Calibers, the usual sniper caliber, he poured his soul into the projectile and imbued it with his Blaze. He pulled the mental trigger and the black flaming bullet flew and hit the bunny in her thigh, the sudden damage causing her to fall. As she skid on the ground, Tooru emerged from the shadows and strolled towards Tsukimi. Afraid of death, the teacher started crawling away and switched back to her innocent cheerful voice in an attempt to convince Tooru to spare her.

"Neh neh, Kokonoe-kun, you aren't actually going to kill me right? I mean I did attack you and all, but I think we should put this all behind us, make up. You know? Bury the hatchet."

Tooru continued to walk silently towards his prey, like a grim reaper would his victim.

"Wait! I'll give you anything, just spare me Kokonoe!"

Tooru demanifested his Blaze and pulled back his fist. Black flames engulfed his fist as he punched her straight in the face, sending her flying into the wall. Blood started to pool around her as Tooru walked off to wash off the blood and dirt from his skin.

That night, Tooru was once again haunted by the nightmare of Otoha's death. He was forced to witness his sister die over and over again, each time with more blood spilled. The image kept flashing in his mind, intensifying each time, his heart growing colder than ever before...

* * *

A/N: Just a teaser, I made a change here once I saw Episode 9. Next chapter will cover Episode Four to Six.


	3. Chapter 2: Exception

A/N: Welcome remaining viewers, to the Second Chapter, I can't imagine many of you are left after what I did last chapter, but I wanted a full on dark revenge-bent overpowered Tooru so I wrote it. The darkness does not stop there though, it gets much worse down here… Remember, this is fully written, so unless you force Fanfiction to take down my story, I will upload it.

* * *

The next day, Tooru headed to the nurse office to go through his Sublimation Ceremony. When the additional Luciful was injected into him, he felt his body begin to heat up. His Blaze manifested on its own as the drug took effect. The veins of the weapon started to glow brighter and brighter as the Luciful merged with him. The heat soon subsided and Tooru regained his composure. He breathed heavily and clenched his fist, he felt the new power flowing through him and decided to test it out.

Looking out the window, Tooru saw the academy monorail leaving for the mainland. He decided to leave for his vacation early and jumped out the open window, he soared through the air and grabbed the top of the monorail window, swinging himself in with ease.

'So the extra shot of Luciful made me stronger and more agile… I wonder what else it did…'

* * *

The days passed silently and despite the heightened healing capabilities that came from being Exceeds, the entire class' injuries were excessively severe and the earliest one to fully recover was projected to be Tatsuno, even then it was going to take two months. Strangely, there had been no news on Tsukimi's condition. Golden Week ended and Tooru headed back to class. At his destination, he found himself in a room with a blond haired girl.

"I've been waiting for you, Kokonoe Tooru. My name is Lilith Bristol, and you shall be my Duo from today onwards."

At this point, Sakuya walked through the door.

"Ah, Kokonoe, I see you've already met your new Duo. Lilith here is a transfer student from England and will be your Duo from now on… That is, unless you have a problem with this?"

"Yeah, I do, I work alone, I don't need a partner pulling me down!"

"I'm sure you'll find that Lilith here is more than just your average Exceed, an Exception, you could say…"

"I doubt it would make much of a difference…"

"Arara, is Tooru already getting over confident because he managed to defeat a Level Three? Lilith is a Level Three too you know, I'm sure you wouldn't mind dueling her if you oppose it so much. If you win, then Lilith won't have to be your Duo, but if she wins, then I want no further objection from you.

"Fine, but at least tell me why you would even consider giving me a Duo, you know that I do better alone."

"Everything is in order to reach Absolute Duo."

"Keh, whatever. Where is this duel going to take place then?"

"I will tell you where soon. It will take place on Saturday, take the week off to train, well, not like there's a teacher anyway…"

Tooru took the week to recall the layout of the academy and practice with his new Blaze more. Sakuya had oddly not questioned him on the subject or about the annihilation of his class. On Friday night, after his shower, Tooru noticed a letter left on his night stand. He picked it up and scanned what was on it.

Tooru smirked as he read its content, it had told him to go to the running track tomorrow at dawn.

'So we will be fighting at the running track, I wonder if she's the one with that Rifle Blaze I've heard about… I'll be an interesting experience either way. I'd better get some sleep before the fight, I wouldn't want the fight to be close after all...'

Outside Tooru's window, a shadowy figure put his finger to his ear and activated his communicator.

"This is Agent K, there has been a new development…"

* * *

The next day came and Tooru headed to the track. When he got there, he saw that he was alone. Tooru looked around him for any signs of life when he suddenly felt a shift in the wind and jumped away. Looking back to where he was previously standing, Tooru saw a Blaze infused bullet hit the ground. It was only a second later that he heard the gunshot. Estimating the distance of the shot using the sound delay and bullet trajectory, Tooru looked towards the clock tower. Just as he had predicted, at the top of the tower, a person with blond hair and a rifle shaped object stood.

'That almost hit me, had I not sensed the shift in the wind caused by the bullet I would have been severely injured. That shot had managed to embed itself into solid concrete, I guess that's how strong her Blaze infused rounds are...'

Tooru ran for cover behind the stands and took a moment to analyse the situation. He peeked out from his cover, only to immediately pull his head back to avoid a shot.

'So this was what all those people felt like when I was up there… She's got a good reaction speed and aim, I'll give her that… Now, how do I counter this? Hmm...'

Tooru thought up a plan and manifested his Blaze, he put the gauntlets together and the shield formed, he stuck the shield out of the cover as a decoy. The shot was fired and it hit the shield, to avoid the knockback, Tooru decoupled the shield, demanifested it and re-manifested it instantly. He ran out and kept an eye on Lilith, bringing his shield up to protect himself from the Blaze bullets when he saw the gun recoil. He eventually reached his dorm building where the sniper battle began.

Tooru began the duel, firing a Twenty Caliber shot from his gun-claw, immediately going up to the second floor to fire another while Lilith dodged the first and set her sights on the window he had fired from first. The second Blaze imbued round caught Lilith off guard and she tried to block it with her Blaze. The bullet hit the stock of the rifle and cracked it slightly.

Lilith was not discouraged by it and immediately fired off three rounds in succession at Tooru before he could hide, the bullets only grazed Tooru marginally because she had little time to optimally aim and Tooru immediately retaliated with a volley of Ten Caliber bullets, the smaller rounds being more difficult to see, aimed to take her by surprise. As expected, the smaller projectiles had only barely been noticed by the blonde and one hit the barrel of her gun, causing a small dent, another hit her in the left arm, staggering her.

Without her arm to support the rifle, she could no longer aim her Blaze accurately. Tooru took the opportunity to blindly fire off a shot from the end of the building and quickly jumped into the bush below, utilizing it for stealth as he approached the clock tower. Unsurprisingly, he missed, but the shot got Lilith to aim her rifle with her still functional arm at the place where the shot was fired from and try to spot Tooru.

After searching for a while, Lilith gave up and relaxed her pose. She headed into the tower to rest, jumping off onto the balcony and into the building. Inside, she laid her Blaze down while she used the first aid kit that Sara had prepared for her in case something like this happened. She quickly bandaged the wound then reached for her rifle, only to grasp nothing.

Lilith looked towards where she left her Blaze and saw that it was no longer there, she quickly tried her best to assume a stance, drawing her pocket knife and flicking it open. She looked around, and with what little strength she had left, ran to the middle of the room.

'Where are you Tooru, you can't hide from me forever...'

"What's wrong Lilith? I'm sure that as a Level Three, you should be more than capable of taking me, a mere Level Two, down right? Surely your prowess in hand to hand combat must be exceptional as well right?"

Lilith honed her hunting instincts to try and pinpoint the source of the voice, tossing her pocket knife at the upper corner of the room. It flew into the darkness, but did not return.

"Good job finding out where I was, but you forget that I'm an Exceed as well, this level of attack won't even phase me."

They pocket knife flew straight back at her from the darkness as he finished his sentence, she immediately dodged to the left. In her attempt to dodge the projectile, she had fallen into Tooru's trap. With no control over her body in mid-air, she saw something shine from the darkness where Tooru was hiding and a bullet flew towards her landing point.

Time slowed as the bullet approached her, she recognized it as a bullet from her own rifle and refused to give Tooru the pleasure of killing her with her own weapon. Lilith forcefully jerked her right leg downward, dislocating it, but allowing her to dodge the projectile, landing and sliding to the wall. She got up slowly and looked back to the corner where Tooru was, but could not sense him.

"Wow… Not bad, Ojou-chan, you actually managed to dodge that, albeit at the cost of mobility, but that's besides the point."

Tooru jumped down from his hiding spot above her, causing Lilith to step back a bit. With her left arm and right leg injured, she was largely disabled and could barely stand. Just as she was about to concede defeat, a familiar voice called out to her.

"Ojou-sama!"

"Sara?"

"Oh this is getting interesting! The butler is coming to save her master."

Tooru pointed his Blazes at Sara and Lilith, firing a Ten Calibre shot at Sara, stopping her mid run and striking her in the foot. Sara tumbled from the hit and dropped her pistol onto the ground.

Tooru aimed his weapon at her and commanded her to pick up her weapon slowly.

"That's good, now aim it at Lilith…"

"But… I couldn't… I owe my life to her..."

"Then shoot yourself, I'll let her live if you do…"

Sara slowly brought the pistol to her head and put her finger on the trigger.

"Wait Sara no! Don't do it! There's no proof he is telling the truth!"

"At least this way there is a chance that you'll survive! He will probably kill us both if I don't!"

"Sara!"

She pulled the trigger and the shot was fired, going straight through her head and embedding itself into the wall. Sara's body went limp and she fell to the floor, blood pooling around her. Lilith slumped against the wall

"No… No… NOOOOO! Sara… Please just stop this… I promise I'll never cross your path again, just stop…"

Tooru approached Lilith and aimed her Blaze at her head.

"I know you won't, because you won't be alive to do it…"

He pulled the trigger and the shot was fired… As the bullet killed her off, the Blaze in Tooru's hand demanifested and he knew it was done… He walked away in silence as the two bodies continued to pool blood, heading to find Sakuya.

* * *

Tooru walked into her office and she raised an eyebrow.

"I assume you've won… I hope you left the area cleaner than last time? The clean up crew doesn't exactly appreciate what you're doing…"

"Enough games, I've fought and won, that is the important thing. I hope this is the last time I have to show you I work better alone…"

"Very well… You may leave, but you are to head to the colosseum next week, I've prepared something special for you…"

"I'll be waiting…"

Tooru left the office and headed to his room where he took time to rest before heading out to train.

* * *

Unbeknownst to him, on a hill outside the academy stood a man in power armor with binoculars observing his every move. He activated his communicator to report in.

"I'm afraid that Lilith Bristol has been terminated…"

"No matter, while it is most unfortunate to have lost such an interesting subject, Kokonoe Tooru is proving to be most intriguing… Were you able to assess his skill level?"

"From what I gathered, he is much stronger than a Level Three Exceed and was able to defeat one with relative ease despite being only a Level One. The transformation that he experienced at the beginning was unusual and seemed to boost his strength considerably. Lilith Bristol was a plaything to him once he attained Level Two… I fear he may evolve to be more dangerous than Blaze Diabolica herself…"

"That is quite a bold conclusion, but I see the reasoning behind it. He is indeed a frightening obstacle we must overcome… We will decide what to do with him in time, for now just proceed as planned."

"Understood."

* * *

While in town, Tooru had tested mainly his boosted agility and speed. This week, he set the goal of testing his strength and perception. In his training, he was able to lift a boulder with ease and as proven by his fight with Lilith, his senses were also sharpened, eliminating his peripheral vision and granting him a full hundred and twenty degrees of vision. Satisfied with what he had achieved, Tooru moved on to train his accuracy for the rest of the week and master control over his calibre setting.

When the time came, Tooru headed to the colosseum as ordered and entered to see a group of second years sparing. He looked up to see Sakuya in the emperor seat as she looked down on all the students sparing like the gladiators of old.

'Come to think of it, I've never seen her Blaze… It seems likely that she would have one, but what could it be? From her stature, I expect it would be a speed type like that girl Julie that I stayed with for a time...'

Sakuya then stood and began to address her students.

"Exceed! Today I present to you Kokonoe Tooru, the first year that has not only defeated all of his classmates, but also taken out two Level Threes with barely any effort. He is known for his ruthlessness, even going as far as to mentally abuse an innocent into killing herself in order to break his enemies. Today he shall be fighting all Thirty of you, should he defeat you, he shall advance a level and join your class. Well, assuming there is still a class to join that is…"

Tooru laughed maniacally and looked at the second years.

"Well well well, it would seem that things just got interesting… I accept your challenge Sakuya, you'd better keep your end of the deal when I win though…"

"You first year, don't get cocky just because you got lucky, you might be a Level Two now, but you're up against a bunch of Level Twos and Threes! We had the prodigy Tsukimi as our teacher you know?"

"You mean Tsukimi Rito? Usa-sensei? That weakling was dispatched by me weeks ago…"

"Wait… You can't mean…"

"Yes, I've defeated your precious prodigy teacher while I was a Level One."

"Who the heck are you… There's no way, she must have been holding back!"

"Let us begin this fight now shall we?"

"That is enough Kokonoe Tooru! The fight shall take place in the shopping mall, I shall not let you taint the campus further, the second years shall be given time to prepare. You are to make your way there after an hour."

"Very well, prepare yourself second years, for defeating you brings me one step closer to my goal, and I shall not let anyone stand between me and my revenge…"

Tooru walked out of the colosseum in silence, heading to the canteen to grab a meal before the fight. After some stretches, Tooru headed to the mall, arriving to see that the area had been plunged into complete darkness. Tooru was able to see relatively clearly in the darkness, his eyesight enhanced by the Luciful.

'I shouldn't take chances here, there are more of them and they are all Level Twos and Threes, I need to make sure they will not recover and interfere with the battle later on...'

The doors shut behind him and a whirling sound could be heard before a huge metal ball with a chain was thrown at him. After dodging the attack, Tooru immediately manifested his Blaze and used the claws to sever the chain. He was met with some initial resistance but easily cut through it in the end. The Blaze was destroyed and one student was incapacitated.

Slightly shocked at how skilled their opponent was, the second years decided against just swarming him and switched to their back-up plan. They switched on one of the lights in the distance, hoping to draw him towards it. Tooru played along and went towards it, carefully watching for shifts in the shadows.

Out of the corner of his vision. Tooru noticed a slight flicker and promptly set his weapon to Twenty-Five Calibres before firing at the target. The second year was caught off guard and could not dodge in time, he was hit squarely in the chest, disabling him permanently. His Duo quickly retreated into the darkness, afraid of receiving the same fate.

"What's wrong second years? Stop hiding in the shadows and actually try to face me won't you? I'm getting bored here…"

Tooru continued to walk into the light, once he was in the middle, a group of five students came out from the shadows trying to surround him. Tooru also heard two separate bowstrings fire off an arrow. He jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding the Blaze imbued arrows and fired off Ten Calibre shots at both the snipers. The bullets shot them in the heart, putting them out of commision. Tooru then extended his claws and jumped off one of their heads, slicing her shoulders as he took off. He span in mid-air, slashing at three more students before landing on top of the last one and stabbing his head.

The remaining four were wounded, but still stood to fight, Tooru raised his gun-claws and fired off a large volley of Ten Calibre bullets at them as they charged him, hitting them in the arms and legs. One of the second years took this opportunity to come at Tooru from the back, the surprise attack barely phased Tooru who just aimed one claw back and fired off a burst of Fifteen Calibre shots. The projectiles took down the assailant and the area grew quiet.

"Surely this is not the best you can offer second years, I've already defeated a third of you, I expected a tougher fight from yo-"

A pair of girls had fallen from the roof and started slicing at Tooru with their four blades. Tooru had honed his reaction speed over the years with military exercises and bullet catching, he easily managed to dodge or parry their strikes. However, Tooru's gun-claws were constantly forced to be aimed out of the sights of the girls, their strikes specially altered to make sure his weapon could not be used against them. They were also constantly moving and attacking from different directions, making it difficult to predict their attacks.

"Wow… This is really impressive, the two of you must be Level Threes, such synchronization with your attacks, there are barely any openings for me to counterattack with… Of course that isn't to say there aren't any…"

The two girls then went for him with all four blades at once, which was the opening Tooru was waiting for. He connected the gauntlets and manifested the shield, stopping all four swords. He then opened the slits in the shield and fired. The girls had no time to react to it and could only watch as the barrels fired off bullets straight at them. They both hit their targets and the girls fell back. Tooru decoupled his gauntlets and stood, looking around for his next challenger.

The second years were running out of options, they only had eighteen people left, with only six of them being Level Threes. It was beginning to look hopeless and some genuinely feared for their lives after witnessing what Tooru was capable of. He had insane speed and perception, which was further boosted by the Luciful. His Blaze was absurd, it provided simultaneous ranged and melee offensives along with interchangeable light and heavy defensives that still maintained ranged weapons. He seemed unkillable… The black flames and demonic glow of his Blaze made him seem like a monster straight out from hell that had come to claim their lives.

The lights were turned on and the remaining second years showed themselves.

"So you've finally decided to show yourselves? About time, now come and face me, I'll take you all on! I'll even give myself a handicap for you, I won't use my guns at all. How is it? Pretty good of an advantage isn't it?"

The second years rushed Tooru, coming from all sides whereas their last archer fired from the top floor. Tooru deflected the arrow with his claws and ran towards the left group, sliding on the ground at the last moment and slicing at their feet. Four students fell, their legs wounded heavily, from the slashes. Their Duos helped them back up, but they could only limp now.

Tooru used the momentum in his legs from the slide to helicopter himself back up, kicking a nearby Exceed into his classmate. They fell back and allowed Tooru to focus on the ones coming at him from the sides. He jumped backwards at the last moment, landing on the one he had kicked earlier, stabbing the claws into his sides before jumping off to avoid an attack.

WIth another of their comrades down, the second years stepped up their game and attacked more ferociously. The adrenaline pumping in their blood caused them to react faster, but more rashly, at times interfering with each other's attack and giving Tooru openings to attack them. The fight raged on and soon Tooru had defeated most of them. All that was left was the archer and three Level Threes, the others had been decimated by Tooru's claws.

The archer fired off another arrow at Tooru which he easily deflected in annoyance, deciding that he's had enough of the annoying projectiles, Tooru leapt up the floors toward the archer and sliced her head off before diving back down. He landed atop one of the bodies of the barely surviving students, stomping what remained of his life out of him. Tooru turned to face his last three opponents, They stepped back a bit as they met Tooru's gaze, afraid of what this demon of an Exceed was going to do to them.

The three second years felt cornered, they had lost Kaguya who was their tech expert and so could not unlock the doors to escape, they could only fight and hope to get lucky. The three tightened their grip on their weapons and prepared the assault. The three that were left were the best of their class, each with their own sets of outstanding strengths. One was a master at Kendo, another a master of Karate and the last, a master of Ninjutsu. They all received weapons suited to their skills, a sword, brass knuckles and a kunai.

The Kendo and Karate master charged first, being the more offense heavy ones. The Ninjutsu master threw down a smoke bomb and sped behind Tooru, intent on a quick victory, brought his kunai down on Tooru's neck. He was stopped short of his goal when Tooru suddenly threw his head back, giving him a black eye and bloodied nose. The two others attacked Tooru with all they had, trying their best to land even a single hit on him, the Ninja looked on as his friends fought the unkillable enemy.

He saw as they grew more and more tired, while Tooru was only slightly worn out. He panicked and did the one thing he should never have done, he ran. He ran straight for the exit, looking back only to see that Tooru had cut down the two. He knew the door was locked, but still he ran in the hopes he could break it open. He reached the door and started pounding on it and screaming.

"Help me! Someone out there let me out! It's a massacre in here! We're getting slaughtered! Please! It's Absolute Carnage!"

"Absolute Carnage… I like the sound of it…"

"Kokonoe! Please leave me alone! I surrender! You've already won, just let me go please!"

"Oh don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a quick death…"

"No please…"

The boy knelt down and cried as he gave up all hope of escaping death. Tooru set his weapon to Fifty Calibres, a setting he had not used yet, and fired. The bullet that erupted from the weapon was massive and killed him instantly on impact, shattering his skull and obliterating his brain, before coming out the other side and breaking through the reinforced door. Tooru walked through the opening the bullet had created and headed back to shower in his dorm, the fight had drenched him in blood and grime, along with some guts and bone shards.

He didn't bother taking off his clothes because of their state and just rinsed them along with himself, picking out the bones from his wounds. After the shower, he put on the spare set he had prepared earlier and headed to the canteen to get a bento. The meal allowed Tooru time to think.

'Was I really right in harming so many innocents? No, but I swore on that day that I would do anything to avenge her and so I will. I've trained for years to avenge Otoha and I won't let what's left of my humanity stand in the way of my goal… That's right, there is no point stopping to think about it now, I will have time to consider my action's consequences when _he_ lies dead before me...'

With that thought, Tooru finished his meal and headed to see Sakuya. At the office, she said nothing and simply instructed the researchers to administer the Luciful boost before letting Tooru leave. The ceremony was similar to the last and he did not feel that much different than before. As he strolled through the hallway, he realized he could hear things more clearly. All of the previously unheard sounds were now audible to him and it felt strange… He continued down the hall and could smell the food in the canteen, which was on the other side of the building.

'So this is what being a Level Three feels like… I need to find a way to control these enhanced senses or I'll turn insane from the flood of information...'

Tooru reached his room and sat in his couch, the Fifty Calibre bullet had taken quite a bit of energy from him.

'I guess I wasn't exactly ready to handle that much power, but it should be fine now considering I've gotten twice as strong.'

It was going to be dark soon, so Tooru got up and made himself a cup of black coffee. The fight had taken some time and his clothes were as good as destroyed. He tried changing the mental settings on his heightened senses while he relaxed and managed to set them to an adequate level where things could be noticeably felt, but not to the point of annoyance.

Deciding he had reached a good balance, Tooru turned in for the night in order to recover the energy he lost. His sleep was not the best, he dreamed of _him _standing above his lifeless body, laughing and saying the line that Tooru loathed.

"You've died… Because you were weak! Hahahahaha…"

Tooru awoke with a start, his senses having gone haywire from the scare, after stabilizing himself, he noticed a shift outside his window and immediately manifested his Blaze.

**"Blaze!"**

Tooru threw open the window and saw a shadowy figure run off into the darkness. He fired off a salvo of Thirty Calibre rounds in an attempt to take down the intruder. Unfortunately, the recollection of the event had affected him more than he thought, causing his aim to be off, only hitting with a few off his projectiles.

When it became clear that the person had escaped, Tooru looked around a final time before closing the window and taking a seat back on the couch.

'I didn't think it would affect me this much… I need to hurry up and find _him_ so I can finally put the situation to rest. I wonder who that person was, I definitely hit with my bullets so there is no reason why he could have not shown any reaction to getting shot, even with armor, the force would at least stagger him significantly… Either way, it's safe to assume he won't be back tonight...'

Tooru took some time to calm down and regain control over his emotions before heading to bed. The adrenaline took a while to dissipate, but once it did, Tooru began to relax and sleep.

* * *

Agent K was not having the best time, his target, Kokonoe Tooru had miraculously detected him in the dead of the night. He was lucky that he had his armor on for the mission, it had protected him from the Blaze imbued projectiles, but the armor was severely damaged. He had not anticipated such a powerful attack to come from a Blaze. K activated his communicator and reported to his boss.

"My deepest apologies, I was spotted during my observation of the target."

"Kokonoe Tooru is proving to be a treacherous foe indeed, did he retaliate?"

"Yes, he used his Blaze against me, I am largely unscathed, but the suit is in need of repairs."

"You mean to say he was able to penetrate the Unit? We had that tested against Exceeds and the other Level Threes were barely able to scratch it, what a fearsome adversary."

"I fear that Blaze Diabolica will use him against us when the time comes, we should find a way to eliminate him before he grows too powerful…"

"No, this is no longer under our jurisdiction, let the top brass know of your findings and return to base for now. I will need to work on improving your armor in the event you have to go up against him again."

"Understood."

* * *

A/N: I apologise if anyone who is afraid of such things is still here, but I did warn you beforehand to be fair. The next chapter will cover Episodes Seven to Nine, and it will be much worse than this, hopefully. There is a huge time skip between Episodes Six and Seven, but I'm not including that big of one. Be sure to check out my other stories, poll and review.


	4. Chapter 3: Libels

A/N: This Chapter will mainly be focused on the Branch School.

* * *

A month has passed since Tooru took out the second years, in this time, he has mastered his new abilities as a Level Three. In one of his many training sessions, he accidentally discovered that he could throw his slashes, hitting the target dummy from the other end of the room. Tooru worked to perfect the skill, making them more precise and deadly. By the end of his month long intensive training, Tooru had managed to muster enough force to slice a block of reinforced steel cleanly in half from the other end of the hall.

He had also managed to hone his speed with the new attack, reaching a point where he could shoot off a constant barrage of them as long as he was in a good stance. The training grounds were of course obliterated by this and had to undergo repairs, so Tooru was stuck with nothing to do for the remainder of the time.

He decided to take time to explore the academy, but was faced with access restrictions whenever he tried to go into some of the more suspicious looking rooms. The doors were Level Coded and most only opened for those of Level Four and above, locking Tooru out of most of them. He didn't try to punch his way through them because he could tell that he was at the edge of Sakuya's tolerance, having removed two batches of students from her facility. After exploring all the areas he could, Tooru found nothing much of interest and headed to Sakuya.

"Oi, Goth Loli-san, I'm bored, give me something to do for Level Four!"

Mikuni, the head teacher of the academy was in the office at the time, discussing the possibility of mid-year enrollment with her.

"Kokonoe Tooru, I would advise you to not be so brash with the President. I would have killed you already had she not shown such interest in you, you have cost the Dawn Organization many recruits."

"At ease Mikuni, Kokonoe, I have no need of you at the moment, I shall call upon you when I do. The gap between Level Three and Four is much larger than from Level Two to Three, if I give it to you now before you are properly assessed, there is a high likelihood that it would tear you apart from the inside out. Levels Two and Three only required your body to be able to handle it, but to achieve Level Four, your mind must also be trained to handle the stress of the Luciful."

"Fine fine, I'll head to town I guess."

Tooru headed to town to snoop around for information, meeting with some information dealers he had heard about. The search was mostly fruitless as expected, with no leads on Otoha's killer. The only thing he found out about was that the Exceed were apparently being targeted by a secret organization called Libels.

'That spy from that night must have been one of them… They haven't made a move yet, but they are likely to soon, considering how large of a threat I am.'

* * *

With nothing else to do, Tooru decided to check on a particular island that showed up in the archives. It was in the middle of the pacific, so Tooru had to 'borrow' a water ski to get there. The island was listed as a restricted area and was not marked on any maps, Tooru assumed it was an island that the Dawn Organization owned privately. He figured that he should at least see if it had anything of interest on it.

Tooru soon made landfall and started to look around for a vantage point he could use to get a lay of the land. He found a cliff nearby and headed there, there was nothing much of interest in sight, but there were many signs of recent human activity. Tooru lept off the cliff and jumped across the treetops to find any sort of civilization.

After a few minutes, Tooru was getting restless and decided to take a break. He swiped a coconut off the tree he was on and sat down. Cracking the coconut, Tooru took a drink as he looked around more thoroughly for a building or hut.

'Don't tell me it's an underground lab, those things take forever to find...'

Just as Tooru finished the thought, he saw a kunai fly at him out of the corner of his eye and jumped back. The projectile missed and Tooru analyzed its trajectory, looking to the possible source of the attack. He saw a cloaked figure with kunais worn around his fingers. They had purple lining, allowing Tooru to deduce that they were Exceeds.

'This must be some sort of secret base for Exceeds...'

Tooru jumped towards his prey and manifested his Blaze in mid air, stabbing the claws straight through his head. The kill was silent and did not alert any other people around to the incident. Tooru hid the body in a nearby bush before looking around for any other people, he spotted two together in the distance with their Blazes drawn. One held a kama and the other held a klewang.

Tooru at this point cursed that his weapon did not have a way to fire silently. It was a slight issue that hindered more stealthy actions, but he could get around it. From this distance, Tooru could make them out to be females and that they were somewhere within their teen years.

He decided to avoid them for now and headed more inland to find the facility they were housed in. Tooru had just seen the top of some building hidden within the jungle when he felt the tree he was on give way and fall. He looked down to see that another Exceed had cut it down with a yellow lined sword. Tooru jumped off before it hit the ground and landed, facing his foe, seeing that it was once again a female. The attacker then spoke.

"Its you!"

"Who are you?"

She took off her cloak to reveal herself as Imari.

"Ah… What are you doing here and still with your Blaze? Shouldn't you have had your Luciful removed and sent back to the mainland?"

"The branch school offered me admission after I healed from my injuries…"

"Keh, I figured something was strange when I didn't see any of the rejects in town, but I can see the reasoning behind it, the Dawn Organization needs its employees…"

"I'll make you pay for what you did to me!"

"Bring it!"

Imari charged Tooru and started attacking, hacking at him in order to keep his claws occupied.

"That's right… You haven't seen my Blaze before, meaning that this will certainly be a surprise…"

Tooru joined his two gauntlets together and they joined together forming the shield. Tooru had also gained a skill with his shield once he attained Level Three, it could trap weapons. Tooru activated the ability and once the sword struck the shield, a flame ignited, leaving behind a ring that forcefully fastened the sword to the shield. Imari tried to pull her sword free, but jumped back once she saw the slits on the shield opening.

Tooru was surprised by her awareness and decoupled his gauntlets, picking up the sword before tossing it in the air.

"Good job dodging that Imari, but there is one thing I want to ask you… What happens when a Blaze is destroyed?"

The sword spun as it began to fall and Tooru readied his claws to cut up the sword. Imari started to panic and jumped up in an attempt to retrieve her weapon before Tooru destroyed it. This move was exactly what Tooru anticipated, even if she had not jumped, he would have won by destroying her Blaze.

She had made herself unable to dodge by going for her sword, giving Tooru the opportunity to fire at her easily. He aimed his weapon at her and set it to Forty Calibres, and willed it to fire. The bullet left the barrel and flew straight for her, the Blaze imbued round shot her in the stomach, causing her body to recoil in shock.

She may have taken a hit, but Imari managed to recover her weapon. She demanifested her Blaze and held her wound, to slow the bleeding as she ran away to get help.

"Someone! Anyone! Help me, I've located the intru-"

She didn't get to finish a bullet hit her in the thigh, causing her to fall and skid on the ground. Imari looked back and saw Tooru with his claws by his sides running towards her. She tried to crawl away, to escape the man before her. He was quick, easily closing the distance between him and Imari near instantly.

"Any last words Imari? I'll grant you that for being the first Exceed to fight me…"

"Please… Don't hurt anyone else…"

"I'm sorry…"

Tooru aimed his weapon at her head and set it to his prefered setting for execution.

"But I don't take last requests."

As Tooru finished his sentence, the projectile was fired and the Fifty Calibre Blaze infused round killed her instantly. He quickly fled the scene of the crime and hid in a nearby bush to pick off the investigators, the more he killed now, the less resistance he would face later. The gunshots definitely attracted attention and sure enough, the two that Tooru saw earlier came to the scene, only to be shot in the head by Tooru's gun-claws.

The bodies slowly piled up as more people rushed to where they heard the gunshots, confident that guns would be powerless against Exceeds such as themselves, only to pay the ultimate price for underestimating their opponent. The students at the branch school got more and more cautious, suspecting there was more than one person just because of the number of shots they heard.

Soon the shooting stopped and after some time, a lone cloaked figure emerged from the woods covered in blood. Their immediate reaction was to try and and save their wounded ally. A group of them approached him while others ran inside to get some medical supplies. Unfortunately for them, the cloaked figure wasn't actually injured, or their ally…

"**Blaze!"**

The flames covered the arms of the figure and burned away the cloak it wore, leaving behind a vicious demon like person that spun around and sliced all the students with its claws. After finishing off the victims of its deceit, he moved on to slash at the air, sending a wave of compressed air toward the doorway to the institute and cutting the students holding on to the medical supplies.

Tooru quickly cleared out the school to avoid word getting out and started ransacking it for information. He looted the access cards for the rooms and other facilities off the instructors and hacked the main computer terminal. With unlimited access to the information present in the building, Tooru managed to learn a great deal about the inner workings of the Dawn Organization and about the hidden Luciful lab under the academy. The archives also contained video footage of Level Fours in action, save to say, Tooru was impressed and wanted to reach Level Four more than ever

'With Level Four, _he _won't stand a chance against me! I'll obliterate him and make him pay for what's he's done... Just a little while longer Otoha and I'll avenge you...'

Tooru stumbled upon an encrypted folder with a cover image. He zoomed into it and enhanced the quality to try and make out what was in it. He suddenly froze upon realization of who was in the frame. Otoha was in the picture beside _him_. He searched around for a storage device and quickly plugged it into the computer to export the file.

As the bar slowly filled itself, Tooru suddenly heard the siren sound and accessed the security cameras, he could not see anything within its range but the feed suddenly went dead, suggesting that the camera had been disabled. He quickly ran out to check on the situation.

As he exited the building, Tooru heard a gunshot and quickly jumped up, narrowly avoiding a shot from a sniper on the mountain side. He immediately retaliated and angled his gun-claw to fire a Thirty Calibre round right at the sniper's head. The bullet hit dead on and the sniper was killed instantly, Tooru looked around and saw an army of armoured personnel emerge from the jungle. They carried heavy rifles and began firing on him and the institute.

Tooru evaded the bullets with his heightened senses while simultaneously firing on them, each easily taken down by a mere Twenty Calibre bullet. The Blaze infused rounds easily penetrated the armor they wore and killed them off, the shooting stopped after multiple casualties and the soldiers parted for their leader to come forward.

"We meet again Kokonoe Tooru, I imagine the massacre back there and here was your doing?"

"So what if it was? I also don't recall ever meeting you anyway."

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is K. I was the intruder last month, you damaged my Unit heavily and I had to retreat, but now it won't be so easy."

"You are wearing exactly the same thing these guys are wearing, I easily penetrated that."

"Don't be too sure."

K striped off the outer layer of armor to reveal his own improved Unit, it glowed neon sky blue and green. It also looked sleeker and more powerful compared to the dull one he had on earlier.

"Where you Exceed have transcended humanity with Luciful's power, we, the Libels, have done so with the Equipment Smith's Units. I have to thank you though, our development would not have progressed so quickly without help from one of your previous foes…"

"Tsukimi Rito…"

"Yes, her cooperation has helped us to perfect Unit earlier than expected. In return for her help, we've helped to remove the limit Blaze Diablica placed on her. While it is against our principles to partner up with Exceeds, we've made an exception to deal with you Kokonoe. We've also already succeeded in one of our goals here, the complete destruction of the branch school, cutting off support for the Dawn Organization."

He looked back to see the building suddenly explode and be consumed by flames. Tooru was angry at himself for not making sure to finish her off. They would not have attacked so early if she had not helped them. Tooru had finally found some information on his sister's killer and now it was taken away. He attacked all the Libels around him in rage, killing all the grunts off while their leader looked on in disbelief.

"What the hell is wrong with you idiots!? It's just one lousy Exceed! Kill him!"

"Enough talk! Are you going to fight me or not?!"

"Damn you! Kokonoe Tooru!"

K's eyes turned red with rage as he charged at him, firing all the charges of his weapon. Tooru got into a stance and focused his thoughts. He started sending off a barrage of compressed air slashes towards K and destroyed the projectiles. K jumped to the side to avoid the remaining attacks and continued his assault, drawing two lightning bolt shaped daggers from his sides and holding them in reverse grip.

He attacked Tooru with all he had, boosting his speed to the maximum and going straight for Tooru's heart. Tooru's moved his claws in the path of the blades and split them easily in half, kicking K in the chest afterwards. K landed three feet away and coughed out blood, he looked to see that the Unit had cracked.

"No way… No matter how strong you are, there's no way a Level Three could do this kind of damage with just a kick alone!"

Tooru brought up his gun-claws and fired off a storm of bullets at K, chipping off bits of the armor with every hit. Soon the bullets started to draw blood, puncturing wounds all over K. Tooru stopped after some time and walked over to K's near dead form.

"Me leaving Tsukimi alive has caused a huge inconvenience… I'll make sure to finish you off so I won't have that problem again…"

"Wait! Tsukimi! Help me!"

Tooru looked towards where K had called towards and saw a pair of feet flying at his face, he could not manage to dodge in time and was kicked away.

"Get the heck out of here you stupid Libels, he's mine!"

K scurried away and left Tsukimi to deal with Tooru while he watched from a safe distance. Tooru examined Tsukimi and saw that she was wearing a suit similar to that of K's.

"So we finally meet again Irregular, I'm glad I finally get to see you so I can have my revenge…"

"**Blaze!"**

"Time to get crazy with the moon rabbit!"

Tooru began the attack by firing off a barrage of bullets of varying Calibres. Tsukimi's Tebutje Blaze's segments split up and blocked the bullets from reaching her.

"You'll have to do better than that to beat me Irregular, my limiter has been removed and now you will face the full wrath of a Level Five!"

She held her Tebutje like a baseball bat before swinging it and stopping mid swing, sending a wave of force at Tooru, he managed to jump away in time, but the wave continued on, tearing through the ground and sending groups of bodies flying.

Tsukimi stabbed her blade into the ground and smashed in it, forcing it out in a circular serpent shape with Tooru as it's target. Tooru's claws clashed with the massive serpentine sword, forcing him back each time Tsukimi sent a wave down the Whip Blade. Eventually Tooru had to escape the sword clash and headed straight for Tsukimi instead, she pulled the blade out and clashed swords with Tooru directly.

"What's wrong Kokonoe? What happened to all that confidence from the last time we clashed blades? I thought you were going to make me pay?"

Tooru said nothing and changed the direction of one of his claws, locking the Tebutje in place.

"Nice try brat, but that won't work on this sword I'm afraid!"

Tsukimi willed her sword to split, the pieces above and below the one Tooru captured decoupled themselves and joined back together to form one sword again, albeit a bit shorter. Tsukimi used the shorter Blaze to strike at Tooru while he tried to keep the sword segment in place. Tooru had to give it up and let go of the segment to dodge the attack, which allowed it to rejoin the others.

"You have no chance! In fact, I'll give you the pleasure of one last lesson before I kill you! Look closely, this will probably be the last chance you'll get to see a Blaze's real power!"

"**Devour! Ouroboros!"**

Tsukimi's sword split off from the handle and flew upwards, forming a two circles and combining with it self, like a snake biting its own tail. The segments began to glow blue and spin, they spun faster and faster until it was a blur. Tsukimi sent the ball of death down to hunt Tooru, who ran to escape the death machine.

"Run! Yes, run for the rabbit of the moon Kokonoe! Hahahahaha!"

Tooru tried to outrun Ouroboros, but to no avail, going for Tsukimi would only speed up the ball because of it's proximity to her. He tried to increase the distance between him and Tsukimi, but Ouroboros would force him back towards her. He felt cornered and did the one thing he could think of.

Tooru turned around and manifested his shield in an attempt to fight off Ouroboros. The cross point of the wheels continuously grinded against his shield, trying to get through. Tooru activated the ability of his shield, forcing more and more power into it. The wheel was engulfed in a black flame and continued to burn and grind. The flames soon subsided, leaving behind a huge bracket that grinded the wheels to a halt. Tooru then lifted the shield up, bringing Ouroboro off the ground with it.

"Huh? What the heck do you think you are doing Irregular!? Let go of Ouroboros!"

Tsukimi tried to regain control over her Blaze, only to be shot in the arm by Tooru, causing her to drop the handle. He jumped into the air and started spinning, like a pinwheel of death, Tooru decoupled his gauntlets at just the right moment and the deadly Ouroboros flew towards its master.

Unable to react in time, Tsukimi took the blow head on. The impact threw a cloud of dust in the air, obstructing the result of the attack. A wave of compressed air sliced through the fog as it traveled to Tooru, he quickly dodged it and looked to its source to see Tsukimi with her Tebutje in its original form.

"You really scared me there Irregular, but my Unit protected me. I won't be so easily defeated this time! If I can't touch that shield of yours then I'll just do this instead!"

Tsukimi sent out more compressed air waves at her target, causing him to have to jump from side to side to avoid the slashes.

"Dance, Kokonoe, dance! Dance for the rabbit of the moon!"

Tooru was pissed, Tsukimi was actually a threat to him now, he blamed himself for not making sure of her death.

'If I make these kinds of mistakes when I'm fighting _him_, I might as well kill myself. I need to make sure no loose ends turn up at the last moment to bug me!'

Toori decided to stand his ground and combat Tsukimi's slashes with his own. Her slashes were strong, but slow. Tooru's were adequate but quick, he fired off a volley of slashes, obliterating her's with his. The two powers continued to clash against each other, until one of them broke the stalemate.

Tooru began firing bullets between slashes, creating more projectiles for Tsukimi to counter. She split her sword into its segments so it could act as a shield and took some time to strategize a counter attack. Tooru, however, had other plans, he changed the settings on his Blaze to Fifty Calibres and restarted his hail of bullets. The stronger bullets created sparks on impact, breaking Tsukimi from her thoughts forced her to start moving.

The more powerful bullets started to actually scrape her sword segments, pressurizing her to rejoin her sword's segments to prevent it from being destroyed. There was nothing she could do now but dodge the bullets heading her way. She was soon chased to a dead end.

'I can't risk unleashing Ouroboros lest Kokonoe catches it again, I can't split up the segments either or they'll be destroyed. He has the ranged advantage, but I have the strength advantage, I just need to find a way to utilize it. There's gotta be an opening in that Irregular's defense…'

Tsukimi tried using the twin daggers supplied by the suite to attack Tooru, only to have them break on impact with his claws. Tooru was mad, Tsukimi had set back his revenge majorly, he would make her pay for doing so. He immediately stabbed one claw into her left shoulder, using it to hold her firmly while he stabbed the other straight through her stomach. While he met with some initial resistance from the Unit, his rage empowered his Blaze and allowed it to pierce the armor. Tsukimi coughed out blood in pain but Tooru wasn't done yet. He expanded the gun barrels to fire Eighty Calibre bullets and willed them to continually fill Tsukimi with lead. The large amounts of Blaze infused in the bullets interfered with hers, causing her Blaze to demanifest. Soon her body stopped twitching from the pain as the life left her body.

Tooru threw her into the air and impaled her on his claws to finish the job and used the last of his energy to chase down K. He didn't have to use much and located him easily, appearing directly in front of him, causing him to fall back in shock.

"Wait Kokonoe! I'll offer you a deal! Let me live and I'll tell you of a place to get immense power!"

Tooru paused and allowed K to speak.

"There is a lab underground in the mainland, I have a map with me that shows the location. Within it, you will find all you need to achieve Level Five and become an Exceed-Unit hybrid like Tsukimi. You saw the immense power she achieved, think of what you could do with the same equipment! There is also a special armament the Equipment Smith has, Destruction. He wears it around his neck and is his most precious possession!"

"Interesting… I'll take you up on that offer K…"

"Oh thank you! I'll just be going then! I'll leave the map here…"

K ran off into a bush after setting it down and waited for Tooru to turn his back.

"Silly Exceed! Don't you know that the only person you can trust is yourself!"

K lunged at Tooru with a dagger from behind, quickly approaching his neck.

"Don't you know that the only person I believe is myself?"

K suddenly stopped mid flight as a bullet shot him straight through the brain, silencing him for good.

'This Equipment Smith better be the real deal...'

Tooru headed to a hotel in town to rest and recover, defeating Tsukimi had taken a lot of energy, the Eighty Calibre barrage had used up most of his reserves.

* * *

A/N: Writing this is getting difficult, all this new information in the latest episodes is throwing me off. I hope the last episode doesn't just blow my brain or something. The fight between the Libels and Ethnarch will be really interesting to write because of how I'm going to alter it but I hope it won't disappoint. Next chapter will cover episodes nine to twelve, it will be the last chapter, but there is something in the Author's Notes next chapter that might interest some of you.


	5. Chapter 4: Dawn

A/N: Well here it is, I hope you've enjoyed the story up till now and that it was not too long of a wait. Be sure to read the Author's Note at the bottom, it is quite important.

* * *

"It has been a long time since we've seen of the Irregular isn't it Mikuni?"

"Maybe he fell off a cliff and died, that would be great, then I won't need to worry about finding replacements for the main school students. Speaking of which, the branch school hasn't handed in their yearly report yet."

"It has been a while since we last heard of them, could you go and check on them tomorrow?"

"Yes, President."

Mikuni headed to the branch school the next day, but could not find a single student as he travelled to the institute.

'Strange… Normally they would attack me as a training exercise whenever I come to visit… Maybe they've thought up a new strategy to combat me.'

Mikuni continued to walk on, until he came across an area that had bodies just absolutely everywhere. He had encountered worse than this before, so he trudged on to find out the cause of this disaster. As he continued walking, he noticed that the victims mostly died from a bullet wound or a claw.

As he reached the clearing the institute was supposed to be hidden in, signs of a great battle were evident everywhere. There were armored soldiers lying on the ground dead, along with multiple Exceed bodies. Most prominently was the fact that the building had been burned to the ground. He looked around for any survivors, but there were none.

Whilst checking the bodies, Mikuni discovered someone familiar. He could barely recognize her because of the damage to her body, but her signature bunny ears confirmed his suspicions. She was wearing one of those armored suits.

'This must be the Units the Equipment Smith is working on. I guess he wanted to test them out and so sent them to obliterate the branch schoo-'

Mikuni's pupils dilated and he scowled upon realization of what had really happen.

'The claws and bullet wounds… Only one person has the power to inflict this kind of damage… Kokonoe Tooru, when you get back, I will make sure that you will pay for this! You may have defeated the Units for us, but that was after you obliterated the branch school it seems, meaning that that was your intention all along. Mark my words, the President will hear of this.'

Mikuni hurried back and informed Sakuya of the incident. She was relatively annoyed, but waved it off in light of what he has proved.

"While that is an unfortunate loss, he has demonstrated to have the mental strength to advance in level. Should he return, you are not to kill him unless there is no other option, send him to me."

Mikuni gritted his teeth at the order but complied anyway.

'So, Kokonoe Tooru, will you be the first to reach Absolute Duo?"

* * *

Tooru had gone to visit the lab, within it, he killed off the Equipment Smith, Edward Walker, and disguised as a Libel when travelling between the his objectives. There were three things Tooru came for, one was the Destruction which he already got off the Equipment Smith, the other was the Luciful they had stolen and stored in the base, the last was a Unit. Apparently, the old man had been working on an improved version of K's suit in a restricted end of the lab.

Tooru easily gained access to the areas with the access card he appropriated from Walker. He carried the shot of Luciful to the Unit and killed off all the staff working on it. He decoupled the pipes and wiring connected to the tube and stuck the Destruction module onto the Unit. Tooru fitted himself into the Unit and jabbed the Luciful needle into his neck and activated the release. Walker's computer data banks had contained research theories on a possible fusion with the Blaze and Unit if done correctly. He was engulfed in flames immediately after the shot, his dark flames sealed the the bond between his Blaze and the Unit, making him a fully fledged hybrid.

The flames continued to burn as he felt his Blaze transform, the gauntlets began to liquefy and flow into the Unit, slowly seeping out as a black liquid, covering Tooru's entire body in a dark armor with blood red veins. His Blaze had assimilated the Unit to enhance itself, he felt powerful, he felt unstoppable.

Tooru kicked the door to the lab and it was blown off its hinges, smashing into a Libel soldier and crushing him against the wall. The commotion attracted other Libels from around the facility who ran towards the source to try and eliminate the threat. The general tried contacting the Equipment Smith, eventually breaking down the door, only to discover him skewered by a pipe to the wall.

The general quickly held an emergency meeting with his subordinates and gave out orders to capture the intruder. He had left out the part about Edward's death so as not to alarm them. The Libels immediately deployed themselves to Tooru's last known location, blocking off all exits and setting up blockades to intercept him. They split up into groups of five, one of them encountering Tooru before long.

The Libels in the base were trained more intensively and as a result were more skilled than the ones Tooru fought off before, but skill could only do so much against Tooru with what he had achieved. With his new Blaze, Tooru was a living nightmare, his armor was essentially his shield and so had all of its abilities. Tooru did not even need to look back to know that they were there, their heavy armor's clanking made them easily noticeable. Tooru opened up the slits in his back and willed the guns to fire, taking them all down. Wave after wave Tooru eliminated the Libels, destroying all the blockades in his way with ease.

The Libels were starting to lose hope, no matter which direction they approached him from, slits would open in his armor and Blaze imbued bullets would shoot out from them. Many tried to escape the facility, but were shot down by their commanding officers. The remaining Libels could only hope for a quick death as they were ordered towards their death. Eventually, the last Libel soldier fell and the general was left alone.

He was frustrated, the intruder had gone past many exits multiple times, ignoring them each time, he seemed hell bent on wiping out the entire Libel army. Based on security footage, he had stolen the Luciful from the vault and commandeered the secret Unit that Edward had been working on personally. From what he could infer, the intruder was an Exceed like Tsukimi but instead of working together, his Blaze had consumed the Unit to empower itself.

The hybrid was also much more powerful than Tsukimi ever was, shrugging off their most powerful projectiles as if they were nothing. What's worse, some of his men had gone mad with fear, claiming he was a demon that had come to cleanse them from the Earth. Not that he could blame them, the armor he wore was demonic in nature, the ebony black of the main segments were lined with blood red veins that glowed and pulsed as he moved. The general looked at the feed from the security cameras as he smoked his cigar and let out a sigh.

"Todays as a day as any to see Ma I guess…"

He walked towards the weapon cache in his office and swiped the keypad, revealing a hidden one behind it. The general entered the code and scanned his fingerprint. A panel in the wall opened up to reveal the first Unit ever created. Edward had given it to him as a token of their friendship. The prototype was powerful, but it had killed whoever used it because of how much it strained their bodies. It even surpassed the one K had worn, but he doubted it would stand a chance against that monster.

He put it and twisted the helmet into place as it pressurized itself. The general willed the Unit to activate and immediately felt the strain on his muscles. He knew he wouldn't hold out for long and rushed to Tooru with his enhanced speed, ramming into him and knocking him back an inch or two. Tooru had not expected it and could not prepare for the strike. After the initial impact, Tooru extended his claws and started to slice at the general. He dodged the oncoming slashes with a little leeway and proceeded to throw a reinforced punch at Tooru's gut. The impact was solid, but the armor protected him and a loud clang was all they was achieved.

The general immediately jumped back to avoid Tooru's retaliation. As he landed, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest and clutched his chest. Tooru saw the opening and immediately kicked the general in the face, causing him to fall backward on his back. Tooru stepped on the general's chest, forcing him to the ground. He struggled to remove the foot from his chest but could barely manage to even shift it.

Tooru moved his gun-claw to aim at the general's head and willed it to fire, killing off the general and wiping out the last Libel. Tooru headed to the generator room and stabbed his claws into the coolant unit of the reactor, causing it to start overheating. He quickly ran out of the base through the emergency exit and exited the facility into a desert. He used his boosted speed to escape the blast radius and saw a giant mushroom sand cloud as he looked back

"Now that that's settled, I think it's time I paid the academy a visit…"

Tooru started the journey back to the city, it had taken him a week to find the lab because of it's depth underground. The trip back wouldn't take as long, Tooru activated Destruction and the wings sprouted from his back, enabling him to fly. He landed and demanifested his Blaze on the outskirts of the city to avoid detection.

Once he reached the monorail station, Tooru simply jumped onto the rail and ran up it to reach the academy. upon landing, alarms immediately sounded and Ethnarches immediately surrounded Tooru with their Blazes drawn. He looked around and saw archers stationed at the many vantage points of the institute.

"What is with this greeting Sakuya? Is this how you welcome back students?"

The Ethnarches parted to reveal Mikuni who pushed up his glasses as he addressed Tooru.

"No, but this is how we address enemies. Your actions have made you an enemy of the Dawn Organization, Sakuya has requested that I hold off killing you until you meet with her. Will you come quietly?"

"What makes you think you can make me come quietly?"

"Then I guess I have no choice…"

"**Blaze!"**

Tooru laughed as he saw the puny Stiletto in Mikuni's hand.

"You're gonna fight me with this? What makes you think you stand even a minute chance against me?"

"Look again fool, I have thirteen blades!"

Tooru looked up and saw a circle of Stilettos hovering over Mikuni. The blades immediately flew for Tooru, one by one as he dodged them. He never got a moment to rest as the Stilettos that missed tried to stab him on their way back to the circle. Seeing that there was an actual threat to him, Tooru manifested his Blaze.

"**Blaze!"**

The dark flames engulfed Tooru as the Unit-Blaze hybrid armor manifested around him. Mikuni and the other Exceed shielded their eyes as the flames burned. Soon they began to fade and it reveal Tooru in his new form, the Exceeds got into stance as they carefully watched their enemy. Mikuni however, was outraged at what he saw.

"Kokonoe! How dare you defile the purity of Luciful by merging it with the filth that the Equipment Smith created!"

"I don't care about your ideals, the only thing I care about is power! And I'll need more of it if I'm going to get my revenge…"

"You!"

Mikuni sent his blades flying at Tooru in rage and gave the signals for the archers to fire, the ground troops also started to charge Tooru. The huge wave of enemies did not phase Tooru as slits opened all over his armor at different angles and Blaze infused bullets were fired at the the Exceeds. Those who were quick enough to notice the projectiles brought their Blazes up to block, but they were easily pierced by Tooru's bullets and destroyed. The only one left standing was Mikuni who was shielded by a wall he had created out of his Stilettos.

"Are you satisfied Kokonoe? The Dawn Organization is almost in ruins because of you! You've killed most of our operatives, trainees and staff! Will you not rest until the entirety of the world is destroyed by you?!"

"Maybe… If that is what I have to do to reach my goal…"

Mikuni stayed silent and just started his assault, having given up trying to communicate with a madman. He sent the blades flying in a mad frenzy, using risky maneuvers in an attempt to finish off Tooru. He knew that his safer tactics would barely phase the hybrid and so had to resort to more powerful moves to deal damage.

He flew his blades in a circle around Tooru at speeds which would make controlling them difficult, but at the same time it would make aiming difficult for Tooru to get a good shot on them. The Stilettos sliced against him armor as they flew, but could not manage to even scratch the reinforced armor that encased Tooru.

Going for more power, Mikuni sped up the Stilettos even more, pushing himself to his absolute limit. One of the Stilettos flew too fast and Tooru knocked it off course, sending it flying towards Mikuni. He used the Stiletto he held in his hand to block the dagger but they both broke from the impact. Mikuni felt immense pain as two portions of his Blaze got destroyed. He quickly recomposed himself the best he could before summoning one of the other eleven to his side.

"Interesting, your Blaze exists in thirteen pieces and so only a fraction of your soul gets damaged whenever each one is destroyed. You also seem to need to have one on hand to control the others, you've revealed a lot about your Blaze in such a short time Sensei… That wasn't a smart move!"

Tooru immediately began his counter attack and grabbed ahold of two of the Stilettos, crushing them. The consequence was immediately felt by Mikuni who clutched his heart in pain, momentarily losing control of the Stilettos as they fell to the ground. Tooru laughed as he saw the man, who was said to be the strongest Exceed, in such pain. Tooru walked towards Mikuni and pulled back his foot and kicked his gut. Mikuni dodged the kick and reactivated his blades, willing them to stab Tooru from behind.

The Stilettos flew and at Tooru's back, only to suddenly be engulfed in flames the moment the struck the armor. The flames dissipated to reveal brackets securing all the Stilettos to his armor. Tooru smiled evily as he willed the brackets to shrink, crushing the Blazes. Mikuni fell to his knees as the pain jolted through his body.

"What are you going to do now Sensei? You're soul is hanging by a thread, is this all the supposed strongest Exceed is capable of?"

Mikuni smirked as he looked up at Tooru and spat at him.

"At least I could delay you long enough for the President to escape…"

Upon realization that Mikuni had been stalling, Toori focused his vision on the horizon and sure enough, he saw a helicopter flying away.

"Hah, no Mikuni, it is you that has doomed the Dawn Organization… That helicopter is likely heading towards the main base of the Dawn Organization, meaning that if I follow it, I will find it."

"The waters around the academy are filled with whirlpools, I doubt you'd be able to swim through them! The only way there is by the skies and you can't fly!"

"Or can I? Look closely Sensei, for this will likely be the last thing you'll see…"

Tooru spread out his arms, willing Destruction to deploy itself. The four prongs emerged from Tooru's back, they followed the style of his armor and shared the colour scheme, however, the veins were only present along the edge of the wings and shined dimmer than they usually did. The prongs split and started to shoot out dark ebony black flames. The wings propelled Tooru upwards as Mikuni looked on in fear.

When he reached a good height, Tooru took hold of the two bottom prongs and held them by his sides. He set them to target the main buildings of the academy and charged them. The veins glowed brighter as it charged, going back to their dimmed state once the Blaze infused energy projectile was fired. They flew across the sky, hitting the dormitories and medical facility.

Tooru continued his spree of destruction as he continued to fire off more and more of the deadly projectiles. Within seconds, the academy had been leveled, Mikuni was disintegrated along with it and Tooru let go of the two cannons. He looked towards where the helicopter had been and sure enough he could see a tiny speck on the horizon. Tooru boosted the wings to their max and flew towards the island, intent on getting the last of the Luciful he needed to reach Level Five.

* * *

Tooru was nearing the island when he became the target of hidden underwater turrets. They emerged and started to fire upon him, some were equipped with rockets and others with lasers. Tooru took hold of his top wings and channeled power into them. The veins glowed brighter and a stream of energy emerged, creating an energy saber.

Tooru turned back and sliced the heat seeking rockets in half before flying next to the turrets and slicing them in half. The defenses were obliterated near instantly as Tooru continued his attack. Soon the turrets were all destroyed and Tooru continued on to the island. As expected, as he got closer, he saw a giant sun symbol on a huge building in the middle of the island.

"That must be the Dawn Organization's main headquarters, The vault should hold the Luciful I need to achieve Level Five, and if I'm right, it should be underground..."

The Luciful required to reach Level Five was special and was only produced at the headquarters of the Dawn Organization. Tooru flew directly above the building and started to rain down hell on it's occupants. He continued this until he hit a wall, which was the vault, and flew down. He looked around the wreckage and saw all the bodies strewn on the floor.

He had blasted a crater where the building once stood, all the staff had apparently been ready to fight him, but he had killed them off already in the process of reaching the vault. Tooru landed and used his energy blades to cut through the vault, tossing the reinforced metal door behind him as he finished removing the door. Inside, he saw Sakuya standing without any fear in the middle of the vault with a pedestal holding a Luciful injector.

The rest of the vault was empty, all of it's contents had been removed and utilized to try and keep the organization alive. She pushed a button and the pedestal descended into the ground. Looking at Tooru, Sakuya sighed.

"Are you happy now Kokonoe? You've ruined me and my entire organization, now all that stands between you and more power is a defenseless little girl… What will you do?"

"Simple, I'll kill you."

"Come at me then, Absolute Carnage!"

Tooru charged at Sakuya, intent on impaling her for a quick victory, though it was quickly denied as he suddenly felt a tiny shift in the wind and manifested his shield. Not a second sooner, a small pin sized projectile pricked his shield. Normally this wouldn't phase him, but the needle was thrown with such force that the amount of pressure generated was extreme and managed to create a miniscule dent on his shield. He decoupled his gauntlets to see Sakuya spinning the small needle with a thread.

"So that's your Blaze? It's so tiny, just like you. Also, what is this Absolute Carnage thing?"

"It's a nickname for you, rather fitting isn't it? But anyway, let's continue…"

Sakuya shot her needle at Tooru, forcing him to dive to the side to avoid the projectile. The needle continued on and pierced through the wall of the vault before returning to Sakuya. Knowing that getting close was too risky, Tooru fired off a volley of Thirty Calibre rounds at Sakuya in an attempt to overwhelm her with the sheer volume of bullets to dodge.

Surprisingly, Sakuya spun her needle thread faster before shooting the needle at each and every one of the bullets, piercing and destroying them. Tooru barely registered the movement as it happened, her speed bewildering him. He tried a stronger salvo of bullets in an attempt to overpower her, firing off Sixty Calibre rounds.

The larger bullets were still destroyed, but Sakuya was showing signs of exhaustion now. Not letting up, Tooru upped the difficulty and fired Eighty Calibre rounds at her, she took longer to destroy the projectiles and her palm was blistered, her speed had also greatly decreased. Sensing she was nearing her limit, Tooru fired off a Hundred Calibre round, he hadn't shot a round this large before, never seeing the need for it.

The bullet that erupted from the barrel was massive and Sakuya put all her strength into the needles throw, the two projectiles collided and sparks flew as they grinded against each other and fought for dominance. The battle ended and both projectiles were destroyed. Sakuya flinched as her Blaze was destroy, but still managed to maintain consciousness.

It didn't count for much as Tooru took the opportunity while she was distracted to go behind and impale her. She coughed some blood as she felt the life drain from her body. She opened her mouth to speak her last words, knowing that Tooru would heed them.

"Work towards Absolute Duo, Kokonoe, your sister's murderer is an obstacle on that path… _He_ works under one of the Organizations of the Rein, but I know not which. At least grant me a quick death..."

"No."

Tooru tore his claws out of her and put the gauntlets together while they were against her back. The shield usually manifested on the outside of his gauntlets, meaning that since it was against her back, the shield manifested inside her and ripped her in half from the inside. Tooru smashed his claws into the ground where the Luciful pedestal had been and ripped the injector out. He finally had a good lead on his target, after all these years of searching, he would finally have a chance to face _him_.

He put the Luciful injector to his neck and clicked the release, the specially engineered Luciful entered him, altering his genetic makeup, empowering him, making him stronger. A dark aura started to seep out from Tooru as his body accepted the Luciful. He felt stronger than ever before, like nothing could stop him...

* * *

In an unknown location of the world, the remaining members of the Rein convened to discuss the situation.

"So. Ougi, what do you think of him?"

"He is a force to be reckoned with Beatrix, it would not do us well to underestimate him any further…"

"I agree, we should send our forces at him immediately!"

"Don't be a fool. Clovis, Sakuya has likely sent him after us so that he can achieve Absolute Duo without competition…"

"But Yuugo, if we don't do anything now, there's no telling how much stronger he will become!"

"He gets stronger by assimilating the powers of one of us, if we keep hidden and avoid contact with him, we can use the time to build up our armies."

"He'll find one of us sooner or later!"

"Then they'll have to stall him so the others can have more time to prepare."

"Then it's settled I guess, we need to ramp up production immediately, but make sure to do it discreetly to avoid detection."

"Anyone else have any other issues to bring up?"

The room became silent as no issues were brought up.

"This meeting is adjourned then."

* * *

A/N: Well that's the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it, just to make it clear, Tooru has not reached Absolute Duo, he is just the closest anyone's ever been. I will eventually make a sequel to this story where Tooru finally finds Otoha's killer, but I will leave it here for now since it is the equivalent of where the Anime ended. Be sure to check out my others stories and poll. Don't forget to review and follow either because I will be posting the new chapter here when I do write it.


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